Age of Autism? Whatever! Should be Age of Proffit/Age of Hate/Age of Anti Vaccine. AoA is not about autism, it is about making money off of parental fears and concerns, spreading misinformation that assists quackologists in raking in dough by creating fear and mistrust of anyone that disagrees with them.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

A nasty, reality dysfunctional group of Anti Vaccine Pro Junk science persons -whom I wont name (cough, mumbleageofautsimcoughcough)- have decided that not only are they going to post misleading information, outright lies aimed at discrediting anyone who has legitimate training in medicine and/or science and encourage parents to not vaccinate their children, but they are also now going to use bullying techniques against any persons foolish enough to voice their opinions against them.
Yes, Age of Lunatics has decided that a full attack on Dr. David Gorski (you might know him as ORAC) and an attempt to ruin his career are the only options available to them in rebuttal of the posts made at his blog.

It is there usually gambit of screeching 'pharma shill' in impotent fury with the added twist of making these ranting claims against Dr. David Gorsky on a professional level.

I offered my letter of support

To The Board of Govenors of Wayne State University:

It is my understanding that some absurd claims have been made against Dr David Gorski by a certain group of anti-vaccination and pro-conspiracy persons. These accusations appear to have sprung from posts on the Generation Rescue and Age of Autism websites.

I have never met Dr. David Gorski, nor am I in a related field. I am the mother to a child who is diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

As a parent it is very easy to find websites such as Age of Autism that provide misleading and potentially harmful information concerning autism and 'cures'. Dr. David Gorski has demonstrated his valour in attempting to combat this misinformation and junk science on his blog http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/ .

I believe that this attempt by AoA and GR to discredit Dr. Gorski and cause him professional grief is a case of 'sour grapes'. These organizations, whom clearly demonstrate on their webpages that they are unwilling to follow scientific finding, have been unable to successfully refute the logical (and yes opinionated) posts that Dr. Gorski has made concerning their claims and beliefs. Rather than deal with the content of his posts and attempt a rebuttal they are instead attacking Dr. Gorski's character.

As a parent who is active in both my physcial community and the online community as an advocate for my child and autism, I greatly appreciate and commend Dr. Gorski for the time and effort he has donated to the cause of critical thinking and science. Without persons such as 'Orac' to rebut these extremists, misinformation spreads unchecked, capable of causing actual harm (as seen in the recent 'vaccines and autism' fiasco).

I sincerely hope that Dr. Gorski suffers not one iota of distress over this latest nonsense orchestrated by these junk science groups.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Dan, Age of Autism's so called 'editor' and 'autism expert' starts of his post with this bit of drivel:

Have the American people finally had it with “experts” telling them that things will be just fine? That oil wells won’t turn into gushers in the Gulf, that cars won’t suddenly become speeding bullets, that a deregulated Wall Street will never rob us blind -- and that autism is a mysterious genetic disorder we’ll get to the bottom of some day in the comfortably far-off future?

Dan, please do answer these questions for me:

What experts are telling the American people that 'things will be just fine'? And what 'things' do you refer to exactly?

I fully get the play on the BP offshore oil fiasco, but I am lost at the 'cars won't suddenly become speeding bullets' reference.

I found that a bullet can travel at 682 mph (understand that there are many factors that will change this number). Can you give an example of a car that 'suddenly' travels at this speed? The closest I could find is the Bugatti Veyron which can hit 252 mph and the Ultimate Aero that can travel at 257.14 mph. Neither of these will suddenly, without any urging from its driver, lunge into full speed.

The 'deregulated Wall Street will never rob us blind' is quite hilarious. (Wall Street is a location. Locations are not sentient. You also imply that everyone has investments, that the brokers have control and an agenda.. so many things wrong with this conspiracy). No need for questions on this one.

Who has been telling you, though, that autism is 'a mysterious genetic disorder we'll get to the bottom of some day in the comfortably far-off future?' (sic) I have seen several professionals, from the team that assessed my youngster to the professionals that provide services to him. None have ever said or implied this. Yes, Dan, there is much about Autism that we do not know. We DO know that autism is a developmental disability. That it is a neurobiological disorder that affects about 1 out of 200 individuals. Experts don't know what causes Autism, though it is believed to be a combination of genetics and environmental triggers. Yes some genes have been identified. You are misleading your minions followers by implying that the experts and/or researchers are saying that autism is purely genetic. (Liar liar, pants on fire!)

Let’s hope they’ve had it, because it’s never going to be more obvious that we’ve all been slimed, quite literally, by the unholy alliance between out-of-control corporate power and out-to-lunch government legislators and regulators. As to the overall mood of the public, Robert Reich put it well in his blog post:

“Whether it's Wall Street or health insurers or oil companies, we are approaching a turning point. The top executives of powerful corporations are pursuing profits in ways that menace the nation. We have not seen the likes not since the late nineteenth century when the ‘robber barons’ of finance, oil, and the giant trusts ran roughshod over America. Now, as then, they are using their wealth and influence to buy off legislators and intimidate the regions that depend on them for jobs. Now, as then, they are threatening the safety and security of our people.

“This is not to impugn the integrity of all business leaders or to suggest that private enterprise is inherently evil or dangerous. It is merely to state a fact that more and more Americans are beginning to know in their bones.”

Wow. Any facts to back up your or Robert Reich's claims? (yes yes, many have pursued profit at the expense other people). Who bought off which legislators? Who intimidated what regions? Who is in this 'unholy' alliance? (Nice work demonizing it all btw). And who gathered the data to indicate that Robert's quote is representative of the 'overall mood of the public'?

It’s not just business and government, either – it’s the reign of “the experts,” who sit around a table and reassure themselves that, because they’re the best and the brightest, everything is, well, under control as of now at the White House, to adapt Alexander Haig’s memorable phrase. As Chris Matthews put it in reference to Obama's reliance on experts, "This meritocracy has gone too far."

Which experts do you allege are sitting around? Is your White House comment meant to make Obama responsible for a vaccine schedule that was created before he even ran for president? Are you kidding me about meritocracy? You and Chris feel that appointments that are 'made and responsibilities assigned to individuals based upon demonstrated talent and ability (merit)' are a problem? Much better, I suppose if we give and individual who has demonstrated a lack of talent and ability some power, hmm? For the record, which alternative system would you like in there? Plutocracy? Aristocracy? Nepotism? Cronyism? Idiocracy? If Obama is not to rely on the experts, who should he rely on? God? Spirit Guide? Jenny McCarthy?

It’s just that kind of expertise that reassures us the out-of-control U.S. vaccination program is, well, under control, that vaccines and mercury have been disproven as a cause of autism, that’s it’s time to move on. The problem is that neither big government nor big business (nor big media) has any incentive to get to the truth, which leaves only the people caught in the middle – namely, the American public.

Dan, what sort of study will it take to convince you that vaccines are not the cause of autism. What do you need to understand that the vaccine schedule is not a health risk but a health benefit. How do you make the assumption that only the people that are not government, media, 'big business' have incentive to 'get to the truth'?

They’re being told a vaccine we don’t need anyway is contaminated with pig virus – but their babies should still get it; that mercury is still OK in shots for pregnant women and infants; that swine flu really was a pandemic that required governments to pay vaccine manufacturers billions to fend it off; that autism really isn’t an epidemic and vaccines have nothing to do with it.

Yes, the public is being told that we don't need that vaccine.... By Age of Autism and others like you. Why do you continue to stir up fear Dan?

I have to add that the whole idea that the swine flu was not a pandemic is very confusing. How can you and your playmates tell us that the government is in Big Pharma's pocket in one breath, then tell us the government got swindled by big pharma in the next?

How much money per vaccine do you think 'big pharma' made from swine flu vaccine (net profit)? How many vaccines were ordered and recieved by the US government?

How much money does 'Big Pharma' make from each prescription of Viagra and similar products? (net profit)? How many were sold to the American public last year?

Autism is not an epidemic. It is not a disease, it is not contagious. If you are going to state otherwise can you please share your source of information?

Yet Americans – particularly parents who are forced to concentrate their minds on this question – aren’t buying it anymore. A quarter of those parents say vaccines can cause autism; fully half are concerned about vaccine side effects.

I love your phrasing. The way that reads, 1/4 of the parents that 'are forced to concentrate their minds on this questions' are concerned with vaccine side effects. Can you now tell me how many parents in the USA are forced to concentrate their minds..?

All fun with nitpicking aside.. Can you explain why parental concern trumps scientifically gathered information? Vaccines do not cause autism. If 30 kazzillion parents believe they do, those parents would be wrong. I would further venture that MOST people are concerned about the side effects of vaccines, medications, pollutants and a wide variety of things-including scientists! Which might explain why so many studies are being done on these very topics.

They’re right; they should be. They’ve heard about Hannah Poling and the autistic-like symptoms acknowledged in vaccine court – a court that turns around and throws out 5,000 very similar cases because every single one of those families besides Hannah’s is apparently deluded and misled by greedy lawyers. They know Vioxx killed people well after the FDA and Merck should have stopped it from happening. They know Toyota sat on its hands and BP cut corners

. Dan, can you tell us what your criteria for 'very similar cases' would be? Can you explain, to the best of your understanding, the difference between 'autistic-like symptoms' and autism?

“Drill, baby, drill!” didn’t work out so well, even though Obama said he had been “assured” everything would be fine. “Vaccinate, baby, vaccinate!“ – and shut up about the toxic damage washing up in a generation of children -- is about to meet a similar fate. You can feel it in your bones.

Dan, is Obama responsible for the world wide vaccine programs? Can you define 'toxic' in the context of the sentence above?

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Ever since Wakefield was trounced by the GMC, Age of Autism has been posting more articles about vaccines than they have about autism.

Today I stumbled across THIS POST that kind of made me wish they would have stuck to vaccines.Adriana Gamondes tells us of how in reading all the details of this crime she began to think of poetry-murder ballads.(And later in the article tells us that parents of autistic children do not have genetic mental health issues-feel the irony there).

After a bit of a lecture on murder ballads she jumps to AoA rhetoric-vaccine injured kids (which are not vaccine injured-they are autistic) are such a dramatic pain in the tushie that the 'vaccine injury community' feels sympathy for the parents that murder their children then kill themselves.

Because, you see, it is just so hard to have an autistic child.

I have an autistic child. I have two other high maintenance children. I recently took on an emotionally damaged child who is 16 months old. Get over it. Children are hard work. They cost money. They bring stress into your world. They are also incredibly rewarding-if you bother to open your heart to them.

I cannot fathom this parent, this Adriana Gamondes that wrote this up. Don't get me wrong-at times she seems quite lucid. She is correct, people need to be aware that many prescription drugs can trigger thoughts of suicide, depression, anxiety and so forth.

The implication throughout Adriana Gamondes' post that parents of autistic children have not only some justification for murdering their children, but that they are fighting off the need to do so at any given moment-well it horrifies me.

Somehow she and her pack of rabid followers are all sure it is the child's fault, big pharma's fault-anyone but the mother's fault. I find it terrifying that the word autism is a mitigating factor when discussing murder.

I do not care if your child is loud, obnoxious, ugly, hyper, a fecal artist, severely handicapped or just plain difficult-it is our job as parents to do EVERYTHING in our power to ensure that child feels loved, safe and accepted while still working on developing skills and growth.

Nowhere, noway, nohow is it a parent's job to judiciously decide that a child needs to die. Period.

If anecdote were to equal evidence, with this one article you have demonstrated that mental health issues are prevalent in parents of children diagnosed ASD.
Anyone that can take a child's life is mentally ill. Taking your own child's life is wrong, inexcusable and does certainly demonstrate that the murderer has severe mental health problems.

If you can't handle your child, ASD or not, feel free to call social services. People like me will adopt them, love them and accept them-regardless of their weaknesses.

Shame on you all for endorsing this sort of thinking- that there is ANY justification for murdering a child.